Radio and television personality Drew Pinsky, better known as Dr. Drew, will share his expertise in relationships and addictive behaviors during the first event of the Artist-Lecture Series in Akin Auditorium on Sept. 26.
Board-certified Pinsky earned his fame as a practicing physician by starring in the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew and his own talk show Dr. Drew on Call. He also stars on his nationally syndicated radio talk show Loveline.
“The committee feels that bringing Dr. Drew to MSU will build that bond between the community and the student body,” Rickey Santellana, chair of the Artist-Lecture Series committee, said.
The 12-members committee meets every spring to brainstorm ideas for the lineup of the Artist-Lecture Series. Anywhere from five to 50 names of artists, performers, musicians, speakers and celebrity personalities are brought to the table for discussion.
“We typically want to bring in one big name for the fall and one for the spring,” Santellana said. “The committee tries to include two speakers and two musicians each semester in the lineup.”
The Artist-Lecture Series is awarded a budget each semester by the Student Allocations Committee to schedule speakers and performers.
“We were allocated about $74,000 for this year,” Santellana said. “We were prepared to invest in a lot of money for Dr. Drew because he is well-known, and he will bring in a large attendance so we spent close to $30,000 of the budget to get him.”
Pinksy’s visit is expected to fill Akin Auditorium with about 400 people from the university and the community.
“This event is expected to have a large turnout because Dr. Drew has brand name recognition due to his popularity in media,” Matthew Park, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, said. “He also will be speaking about prevalent topics in addictive behaviors such as alcohol and drugs, specifically among celebrities, and relationship advice.”
The committee for the Artist-Lecture Series has not had a speaker discussing these types of topics in the past.
“There is a certain glamour associated with celebrities and the lives they lead,” Park said. “America’s fascination of entertainment is very high.”
Pinsky wrote The Mirror Effect in 2009 to discuss narcissism associated with celebrities and its effect on society. He is an interactive speaker when he discusses these issues in front of an audience.
“Dr. Drew will discuss topics according to questions brought up by the audience,” Park said. “He will most likely invite people from the crowd to the microphone and share his expertise.”
One of the topics Dr. Drew is an expert in is addictive behaviors. In the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, it was found that 22 percent of full-time college students from ages 18 to 22 used illicit drugs within the past month.
“I definitely believe this campus, like many others, has a problem with addictive behaviors such as alcoholism,” Pam Midgett, director of the counseling center, said.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health also found that 40.1 percent of full-time college students from ages 18 to 22 were binge drinkers. This is equivalent to two out of every five students.
“College is a time when people are stepping into adulthood and figuring out how to cope with stress,” Midgett said. “Some students find healthy solutions, however, many students experiment with other ways to cope with the stress such as drugs and alcohol.”
